Gas-meter.



7 PATENTED 001'. so, 1906. v. P. wI'L'KINs. GAS METER.

, APPLIOATIOR FILED JUNE 26, 1905.

m: NGIklS PETERS 0a., wnsumarou, o. c.

j UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VVANGE P. WVILKINS, OF LAPORTE, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO EMMET SCOTT, OF LAPORTE, INDIANA.

GAS-METER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 26, 1905. Serial No. 266,955-

Patented Oct. 30, 1906.

To all whom, it may concern;

Be it known that I, VANCE P. WILKINS, a citizen of the United States, residing in Laporte, in the county of Laporte and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Gas-Meters, of which the following is a specification.

- This invention relates to that class of gasmeters wherein the interior partitions and gas-passages are formed of sheet metal sections or parts bent into tIlG dBSIIGd shapes and soldered or otherwise secured together; and its object has been to increase the capacity of the meter without enlarging its measuring devices. My tests with meters embodying the invention have demonstrated that they have a capacity varying from fifteen to twenty-five per cent. over meters of the same size constructed in the old way, and this increased capacity is obtained by changing the construction only slightly and withoutincreasing the cost of manufacture materially.

The nature of my improvement will be fully understood from the description given below and from the accompanying drawings, forming a part of my specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a horizontal section, and Fig. 2 is a vertical section, of my improved meter. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

- I show in the drawings a well-known and standard construction of meter, 5 being the outer casing, 6 the measuring-bellows, and

7 the vertical partition between the bellows 8 the gas-supply pipe; 9, the "as-discharge pipe connected to the pipes of the house or build ing; 10, the slide-valves regulating the movements of the gas to and from the bellows; 11, the chamber containing said valves 12, the floor or horizontal partition supporting the valves; 13 the rock-shafts or flag-rods actuated by the measuring-bellows; 14, the rotatin shaft driven from the rock-shafts by suitaIfle connections adapted to transform the motion; 15,-the worm and pinion whereby shaft 14 actuates the dial-hands, and 16 the crank and pitman whereby the shaft 14 moves the valves. All of these parts are unchanged in my construction. The gas takes the usual course through the meters entering at pipe 8, thence into the horizontal passage 17, and emerging from said passage at the opening 18 into the valve-chamber 11.

passages 19 into the bellows and bellowschambers, that from the latter returning again to the valve-chamber and that from the bellows issuing by passage 20 into the house-pipe 9.

From here it moves through the valves by As heretofore constructed the passages 17 and 20 have joined the pipes 8 and 9 at right angles to the latter, forcing the gas to make abrupt right-angle turns. In my improvement, however, I change both the joints from a right angle to an angle inclined in accordance with the direction of the flow of the gas, this inclination in the construction illustrated being upward. In order to effect this change, I cut out the floor 12 above each of the passages 17 and 20, as shown at 21, and the adjacent wall of each of the pipes 8 and 9, as shown at 22, and cover the opening thus made with any suitable construction of cap adapted to close it, the one illustrated at 23 being provided with de pending triangular sides 24, and otherwise adapted to be soldered to the floor 12 and to the casing around the opening. In this manner I change the upper angle of each joint in such manner that it forms less of an obstruction to the movement. of the gas than in the old construction, and I also enlarge the passages and the openings from the supply-p1pe and to-the house-pipes, and the result is a marked increase in the capacity of the meter without any increase in the size of the measuring devices or changing any other portions of the gas-passages in any respect whatever. v The invention can be readily applied to existing meters.

It will be understood that I do not wish to be limited to any particular construction of cap 23. i

I claim- 1. A bellows-meter having vertical inlet and outlet pipes or tubes, a horizontal assage connecting the inlet-pipe with the va vechamber, and a horizontal passage connecting the bellows with the outlet-pipe, the tops of both said horizontal passages being cut away at their junction with the pipes and the openings thus formedbeing closed by .inclined caps,

2. The bellows gas-meter having vertical connected to one of said vertical pipes, said pipes and passages being all formed of sheet metal the tops of the passages 17 and 20 be ing inclined upward at their junctions with the vertical pipes, and the walls of the latter u" on the side receiving said passages being a so cut out at the junction to correspond to the upward inclination of the tops of the passages.

3. The bellows gas-meter having vertical supply and house pipes 8 and 9 and horizontal inlet and outlet passages 17 and 20 each connected to one of said vertical pipes, the tops of the passages 17 and 20 and the adjacent walls of the pipes being cut out at the junctions and the openings thus formed being closed by inclined caps 23.

VANCE P. WILKINS.

Witnesses:

W. C. MILLER, H. W. BAGKUS. 

